Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I have been wanting to try baking spongecake in a cup. Finally tonight I did it. I used my usual spongecake recipe and baked them in individually paper-lined cups. The result is stunning good. The cake is so soft and moist. The boys and hubby love it. Hubby asked for some to bring to work tomorrow too.

Methods:Put all the ingredients except the melted butter into a mixing bowl.Beat everything on high for at least 7 mins until ribbon stage. This means that if you use your whisk with batter to write an "8" on the batter won't sink in but will appear visible for a while. This will be the right constitency for your batter. Add in melted butter at this stage and mix in thoroughly.

Line some waxed papercups with baking paper. Pour batter into the lined cups abt 3/4 full and bake it in a preheated oven at 190C for about 20 mins. When done, remove the cake from the cup immediately and leave it on wire rack to cool.

Hi Anonymous, hahaha, I forgot all about the melted butter. Thanks for pointing out to me. I have amended my recipe accordingly.

Hi Shirley, you can use about 3/4 tbsp of the stablilizer. Should be safe enough. If you batter is flowing down very slowly, this is the correct stage. If you try using the whisk and try to write an "8" on top of the batter, you can see the figure "8" distinctly.

Is it neccessary to use a stand mixer to beat the eggs? I always cant seem to get very soft spongy cake. I'm using hand held mixer. Especially for cakes like chiffon cake which requires the separation of egg white and yolks, I always cant get the texture.

if stand mixer is important, what brand do you recommend thats gd and affordable?

My 1st attempt and it was a disaster! First batch i bake on waxed papercups n the texture was soft n fluffy but then when i baked the second batch i found out that the mixture had collapsed but i go ahead and baked it..the result was kuih like texture. How come ar? And i tried baking using baking paper in cups but the paper got burned. For this recipe, is it i have to baked all at once in the oven?

Is it that i have to bake this papercup cakes in the oven all at once cos the 1st batch the texture was soft n fluffy but when i baked the 2nd batch ( i found out that the batter had collapsed),it was like kuih-type texture. And my baking paper got burned when i baked in papercups. Pls advise.

Mei, when you say cup, what kind of cup. Did you trim off some of the excess baking paper if they are too high? When you say paper was burnt. Did it got very black or literally burned off. Maybe when you scoop batter into the cup some batter dripped onto the paper and as a result that area got burnt.

Actually a handheld mixer is good enough for beating eggwhite to stiff stage. But if you want to invest in a good tabletop mixer, you can go for the cheaper range of Kenwood (they are designed to look like a Kitchenaid mixer). I think in Singapore it is selling at about $300+.

Hi! I just tried baking this and it tasted really yummy but I don't know why my papercup cakes' bottoms turned to become a really dark brown! :( And when I tried peeling the cake away from the baking paper, it didn't look like the second picture in your post! Mine has some slight brown skin attached to it! Did I use a wrong kind of baking paper? Or did my cups play a part as well? If so, where can I buy your type of baking paper? (I bought mine from Phoon Huat.)

Hi Sukkimi, did you mix the butter well into the batter? When you beat all the ingredients in step in, you need to stop the machine at least once to give it a stir to make sure all the eggs, flour, etc gets beaten well, especially those at the side and bottom of the bowl.

I did this last nite but I am not sure if i got the right consistency for the batter. I beated rather long cos I tried to draw a '8' and it keeps sinking down. So i thought i need to beat longer. The end result-- the cake is not soft n fluffy enough. Do you know if I did anything wrong. Is the texture supposed to be like a cake, rather than a sponge? I find mine rather dense, as if it did not rise enough.

Hi Wendy, you need to beat everything at high speed. The batter must be thick and creamy. The '8' will remain on the surface for a while before it sinks. If you get this type of texture then you cake will definitely rise and will be fluffy and very soft. The cake is not supposed to be dense at all.

Just wondering..Won't beating the batter for 7 minutes overwork the flour? I know it's better than using all-purpose flour, but there's still gluten in cake flour. I'm a bit afraid that the sponge cake will turn out tough.

You won't overwork the flour for this recipe. First it has a spongecake stabilizer being used. Also cake flour is a very low gluten flour. In fact, you have to beat long and fast (high speed) enough to get the batter into the correct stage. I would not use SRF as it has baking powder added into the flour already.

Hi Hugbear, your spongecake look so yummy, I can't wait to try the recipe, but I have the same question about spongecake stabilise(ovalette,emulsifer or sp) never heard or seen them before in recipes so may I ask where can I buy them! at Asia market in Canada or local suppermarket on which section(cake & flour),how do they look like! thank you. I love your web. I tried already a few recipes & they are successful.

I tried this recipe but no matter how long i whipped, i couldn't whipped it till the ribbon stage. I find that usually for sponge cakes, we will whip whole eggs with sugar till thick, then we fold in flour and oil. But for this recipe, we whisk everything together and i really cant whipped to high volume.

Yes, most probably it is due to the stabilizer. If you cannot get hold of spongecake stabilizer, then try other spongecake recipe that doesn't require it. You can try Lucy's blog, she has many spongecake recipe that doesn't use stabilizer.

Hi Baking mum, I love ur blog. I tried this recipe n it's excellent. So soft n nice. But I dun noe how to bake in papers, so I pour inside cupcakes paper/cups to bake. Lucky same result. I also added pandan paste to my last batch of the 6 cups n it tastes great. Nice frangrance smell. Love the soft texture. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

i tried this recipe twice and both times the cake was delicious! Really yummy! Unfortunately both times the cake sunk and strunk by quite a lot. Still nice and soft - but rather dense. I'm baking it in muffin tins lined with paper. do you think this is making the difference??

Hi, tried the cake 2 days ago. Baked it using those hard cupcake cups for convenience sake. The cake rise very beautifully in the oven, but when i left it out to cool, it shrunk more than half. wonder what's wrong? It is still nice and soft, but dense. Was it because I didn't beat long enough?

Oh, and to sidetrack a bit, if some recipes call for 250g of castor sugar, but I put only 50g or 100g, will it affect the cake in anyway (except that it won't taste so sweet)? cause many recipes I tried are too sweet for me :P

Hi wingirl, it should not be a problem. Next time try to just make sure the melted butter and flour are mixed in well. No need to stir for too long if possible to see if the cake still comes out dense.

Hi Sharynn, the cake should not shrink too much. Nex time try to just mix everything well and stop. Try not to mix for too long and see how it turns out.

hi, its jessica again, i did a search on the internet for a conversion table, but most of them say that the conversion depends on the type of ingredient you are using.if you have time, could you please convert the recipe?? i really want to make it for my mom, she loves spongecake! THANK YOU!! :D

Hi HugBearI love yr site. Everything looks so simple and nice. Have u tried Crystal Jade sponge cake(wrapped in a servette)? It is very soft and light and it does't have that strong eggy smell. How can I get rid of the eggy smell? Please advise. Kamsiah many many!

anyway, the recipe works fine but i find that the texture is a little too dry. i added more milk, but it lost it's nice egg smell. how do i make the texture less dry? add another egg or some water or another egg + more milk?

Hi Agnes, if you have just added a bit more of the milk it shouldn't have make a difference in the eggy smell. I usually also added about 10ml more milk if I feel that the batter is a bit dry and I don't have the problem of the eggy smell. Try using bigger eggs when doing baking.

Hi, I just found out your blog recently and I've tried out your spongecake this morning in my office lab and your steamed choc cake last monday at home. This spongecake tasted absoloutely fabulous! It's the best spongecake I've ever eaten in my entire life. It was so soft, so moist and so spongy. I love it. The only setback was they look hideous. Mine didn't turn out like yours. The shape was odd . Extremely odd. What size did u cut the paper? It has too many creases at the bottom. Can we use serviettes instead?

Hi Intobaking, I cut out a square shape. Actually it doesn't matter what shape as long as it fits in nicely at the bottom of the cup. I am not sure about serviettes though as I have not tried it before.

Hi Lynn, maybe baked too long. The batter is thick and not runny.Actually top flour, cake flour, hong kong flour are all low protein flour which are inter-changeable when it comes to baking cake. The best is top flour, all gives a very soft texture to your cake.

ohh thanks baking mum! i will try again next time! =) my family likes to eat it!hmmm but i realised when i use top flour to make cakes, it gives the bouncy/spongy texture like in a chiffon, but the other 2 flours give a cakey, as in more flakey texture and less bouncy! is tt rite??

i tried this recipe taste good. But I can't get the same texture on the top like yours. Mine tends to wrinkle up and shrink a little. Should I increase the stabilizer a little? And for the melted butter does it has to be melted to liquid (transparent colour) or slightly melted to a soupy stage? And I lessen the butter a little, about 20g lesser. Will that affect the rising of the cake too?

Oh actually the first time I tried this recipe, I had problem folding all the butter into the batter as it seems that some still sink to the bottom. That's why i cut down on the butter after that. The top portion of the batter turns out good though.

hi hugbear...i love all yr recipe. Instruction are clear and easy to follow. I tried baking the spongecake many times using lined loaf pan...however, the cake will shrink once it's out of the oven. please advice why it's that so! :-(

Hi,I tried to bake it as one big sponge cake but each time I do that there is a thin layer at the base that comes out dense.It's okay when I bake them in paper cups.Do you know what is causing that.I tried a couple of times but similar results.

Sim, actually this is a spongecake recipe but I made it into small paper cup size spongecake. You should be able to get the same results as when you are using cups. Remember not to mix too much until the batter is deflated of the air in the mixture.

hi,wish to ask if i was to bake into a whole cake.. how long will the baking time & temperature be??and by the way do you have any chocolate fudge which is custard-like fudge cake recipe to share? planning to make a b'day cake for my coll whom like chocolate alot :)

Hi Elaine, the baking time is around 25 mins or so. Test the doneness of the cake by using a cake tester or a skewer.

For the chocolate cake, I usually make the steamed moist chocolate cake with the ganache. The ganache if left in the fridge for a while, will thicken up and it is very easy to apply onto the cake. Sorry I don't have a custard ike fudge cake recipe to share.

kelly here. HI!just came upon your website and i really love it :)i was wondering if i could use this recipe for a spongecake that is like 9 inch..and what are the changes i should make so that the spongecake will turn out ok. because i tried other recipe and my spongecake shrink to half of it original size..:(

Want to ask you does your spongecake shrink alot? Mine rise till very high but when I took it out from the oven it shrink about more than half a inch and crumpled till quite ugly. ANything that I might have did wrong?

Hi aunt hugbear! Thanks for your wonderful recipe! My parents loved it. When u said the stabiliser could be found in ntuc and stuff i was so glad cause i thought u were in different country! although my cake rose very high in the oven and the top got burnt. Any idea why?

Hi Dina, might have missed out on your earlier question. Usually my spongecake doesn't really shrink a lot. You can actually add another 10-20ml of milk to this recipe. Give the cake tin a few bang to release air pocket before baking.

You just need to pour in the melted butter and use a spatular to fold in until mixture is well mixed into the batter. Another way is to use the whisk to whisk in the melted butter until well incorporated.